Special Agent Elsa Myers of the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Unit is one complex character.
Covered in scars she tries her hardest not to cut herself anymore; but scratching her old scars is impossible to resist. That is why she wears long sleeves and heavy trousers in the heat of the summer. That is why she steers clear of intimate relationships. That is why she is slightly withdrawn at times when she should be concentrating on other things.
The other thing in this case is the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl from New York. Girls that age go missing all the time in NYC; so why does Detective Alexi (Lex) Cole call in Elsa as soon as she is reported missing.
Because she is a hard working student, with a job in a coffee shop, and no history of getting into trouble. She just does not fit into the usual stereotype of the girls that go missing of their own accord.
But: when do good girls turn bad, and what is bad.
As Elsa and Lex dig deeper into the girl’s disappearance they start to make a few discoveries. Maybe the girl is not as squeaky clean as her family think she is.
With her family not knowing the whole truth about their daughter, and with her friends lying to protect her, the investigation is slow. Elsa needs to unravel the truth about the missing girl. As she does she starts to recollect her own childhood and the reason why she self harmed. The memories start to get her reaching for the Swiss Army knife she always carries in her bag.
As well as carrying out the investigation Elsa is backwards and forwards to hospital to visit her dying father. As her childhood memories resurface the interaction with her father, and sister start to change.
Will Elsa survive this investigation in good health? At times its touch and go as mentally she finds it hard to balance her work with her personal life.
I really enjoyed this book. I like a good story with good characters, but this one had something else.
The girl that goes missing.
A good girl? Yes.
However the usual teenage problems start to come into her life. Pressures of school work, boyfriends, and slightly dodgy opportunities.
This little sub-plot about how one or two decisions, not even necessarily bad decisions, have that domino effect that can lead to a person having a very bad day.
Pages: 320
Publishers UK: Mulholland
Publishing date UK: 11th January 2018.
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